The Fox And The Rabbit
by Usagi Uchiha Yuy
Summary: Kakashi and his students are given a mission once again. They are to find and retrieve a missing girl, seems simple enough! What they don't know is that this girl can fight better than a shinobi...so why in the world would she need to be 'rescued?


Usagi-Yuy: Hey guys! If any of you people checked my profile – I've decided to rewrite this and hopefully – it turned out better than before! DISCLAIMER! I like to still give credit to **Heroine of the Valley** for the fighting scenes since I seem to still not be able to write one even if my life depended on it. Sad really! Now, hit it Usagi!

Usagi: I don't wanna say it. Can you say it for me please Ruto-chan?

Naruto: Uhhhhh…I…umm. You say it Sasuke!

Sasuke: …

Naruto: What kind of answer is that??!!!

Sasuke: Hn. (Doesn't this remind you of someone from Gundam Wing, desu ne?)

Naruto: What is that?! A challenge? BRING IT! -falls into attacking stance-

Sasuke: -watch with disinterest- …I don't have time for this…

Usagi: -sigh- Boys will be boys….-shakes head-…Usagi Yuy do not own Sailor Moon or Naruto.

Sakura: Finally! Looks over script HEY! I'm being bashed!! And how come my name's always last?! OMG! You made my dear Sasuke-kun mean to me! How could you?

Usagi Yuy: Sorry! I'm warming up to you though! Slowly…but bit by bit – I'll try to tone it down a bit okay?

Sakura: NO. I want my Sasuke all to myself!

Usagi Yuy: … There might be problems with that idea…heheh

* * *

_**Chapter 1 - Missing**_

Summary

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kaskashi-Sensei are given a mission. They are to find and retrieve a missing girl. What they don't know is that this girl can fight better than a shinobi…surprise no?

* * *

"Tsunade-sama, there's someone to see you about a mission,"

"Let them in." Tsunade said. The secretary came back with a women and a man. The women had dark blue hair and matching blue eyes wearing a casual kimono. The man had black hair and also black matching eyes; he wore a male kimono with black embroideries.

"Hello Tsunade-san. I'm here to send you the details about our missing daughter."

"Ah, yes, Sumi and Kento Hirata right? Go on,"

"Well you see – Usagi is, actually, an independent and solitary girl. She prefers to be alone and usually we leave her be but recently, we haven't seen a hair of her and it's beginning to worry us. With threats and enemies close by – you can understand can't you Tsunade-san?" Kento started.

"We're just a little worried, we haven't given Usagi any training or anything so if something were to happen, we fear her safety. Is it possible to send a search party of some kind? Just to relive our fears perhaps." Sumi asked politely.

"You know as well as I that I cannot guarantee a hundred percent that she's retrieved but we will do our best. The cost for this mission is 10 000 yen. Description please?"

"We included it in the documents - Usagi has blond hair and sky blue eyes that could be almost mistaken for silver. Her hair is up in two spheres with streamers. She wore a simple white kimono with crescents moons and dragons on it when she disappeared. She's 15 years old, 154cm, pale," Kento took out the money and handed it to Tsunade.

"I'll send my ninjas to look for her right away. We'll bring her back,"

"Thank you Tsunade-san,"

"You welcome"

With that, the couple left and Tsunade's hand automatically reached up to massage her headache.

* * *

"Ugggghhhhhh!!!! Why do we have such sucky missions?" '_Stupid hokage, belittling us!_'

"Shut up dope. You're way too loud," meaning – 'I agree with you'.

"I know! Naruto, be quiet or I'll make you shut up!"

"We have to meet Tsunade-san to receive a new mission in a few minutes."

"We better not have more boring and easy missions!"

"Naruto! Be quiet and stop complaining!"

"…"

"We better go." Kakashi said and the four arrived at the town hall. They walked down the corridor, as Naruto started complaining again about how these missions are way too easy and that it didn't help him improve anything. Sakura got pissed and whacked Naruto HARD on the head.

"OW! Why'd you do that for Sakura?! It hurts!"

"Because you won't shut up!"

"We're here…" Kakashi sighed – wondering how his hair didn't fall out yet from the stress that came with his team. As the four entered the room, they all shut up and began to pay attention. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura waited.

"Tsunade-san, you have a mission for us?" Kakashi asked. Naruto's ears perked up.

"Yes, you have to find a missing 15 year old girl. This is a level D mission. We don't know if she ran away or was abducted. Here are the files about her. This might be a long mission. You're staying at the Hirata's home with Usagi's parents and her brother in the Village of the Moon-"

"The Moon village is REAL?! Lots of people say it's just a legend." Sakura exclaimed unbelievingly.

"The Moon village is very hard to find, not a lot of people know that there actually is a Moon village. You're right; people from many villages just think it's just a legend. That's why they don't have a lot of ninjas so they need our help to find the missing girl." Tsunade informed and handed the folder to Kakashi.

"Thank you. Guys, let's go and get packed. We'll meet at the front gate in an hour." Kakashi said. Everyone left their own separate ways to get packed.

"Finally! An actual fun mission! To rescue a girl…hopefully she's pretty. Ah ha! A picture! Kakashi-sensei must have a picture of her in his folder. I'll go ask him if I can see it right after I finish packing! I'll kick Sasuke-teme's ass and then Sakura will like me! Usagi...what I don't get is why anyone would name their child after rabbits..." Naruto muttered as he ran back to his house.

* * *

"I knew it!!! He's going to be late AGAIN!!!! When I he gets here I'm going to-"

"You're going to what?"

"AHHHH! Kakashi-sensei, don't sneak up on people like that. If I was old, I'd have a heart attack," Naruto scolded, totally forgetting to ask Kakashi-sensei to see the picture of Usagi.

"Let's go," sighed Kakashi.

All three walked and jumped everywhere. They reached a very tall mountain, beneath it was a waterfall. They look from tree to tree and finally found the village. There was a rind of trees around the village and the waterfall was in the front gates. The streams coming from the waterfall, somewhat surrounded the beautiful village.

"Man, Tsunade-san wasn't kidding when she said it was really hard to find the Village of the Moon. You can't find it unless you're actually looking for it really hard." Naruto pointed out.

"For once, I agree with you Naruto" Sakura said. 'CHA! What kind of village is this, so weird; it's not even in our text books.'

When they got there, they went up to the gate and told the ninja who they were. The ninja had a headband protector with a slanted crescent moon on it. The Moon village was not big. It was a bit smaller than their own home and everyone seemed like a big family. The village houses had white walls that have a moon like glow. The village was clean and the grass and trees were beautifully kept. There were sakura trees all around the village. The village seemed peaceful; if not _too_ peaceful...something was off – in a way that made your skin crawl. As they walked through the village, people stared at them and whispered. One young boy with sandy blond hair walked up to them.

"Are you the one who's going to save Usagi?" he asked – seemingly innocent and small.

"Why do you want to know squirt?" Naruto asked casually.

"I'm not a squirt – if you're coming here just to insult people, then I suggest you turn your ass around and walk right back out." The boy gave them a glare, his aura turning ominously dark.

"Geez lighten up will ya?" Naruto scratched his head in a slightly worried manner, "What's your name?"

"Like I'd tell you," the blond pre-teen bit back with venom.

"Then I'll just keep calling you 'Squirt' – you said it, not me," Naruto, slightly put off with the kid's attitude, looked away irritated.

"…Hayashi,"

"What was that? I don't think I heard you properly," Naruto couldn't help but put in a taunt. As Hayashi was about to bit Naruto's head off, Sasuke came in to save the day…and maybe Naruto's life.

"Naruto," Sasuke warned in a tone that left no room for argument, "stop teasing and grow up."

"WHAT did you say?! Sasuke-"

"Hey Hayashi, you wouldn't happen to be the little brother of Usagi Hirata, would you?" Kakashi cut Naruto off with interest. Sending out two immediate messages to the boys: shut up and let me handle this.

"Hn." Sasuke gave a small grunt of acceptance at Hayashi's hesitant nod. Quite suddenly, a brunette pushed her way infront of them,

"You have to get Usa-chan back, please! She's my best friend!" the girl looked like she was near tears and haven't eaten or slept soundly for a few days.

"Don't worry lady! Just leave it to us." Naruto tried of offer some comfort.

"Well, let's go to Mr. and Mrs. Hirata's house to sort this all out. Shall we?" Kakashi's suggestion seemed innocent enough, but if one to know him well enough – they would understand that it was more of a command than a simply proposal.

The group went and knocked on the door. Sumi opened the door and let them into the living room. The house was modest to say, wasn't a big mansion like Tsunade's or a small apartment like Naruto's. It was, simple put, a family house – with the perfect number of rooms and everything was impeccably clean. In fact…was it just Sakura, or did the place seems a little sterile? Rare were the photos of happy smiling children one would have thought this family should have. Trophies displayed were in a glass case, isolated from people. Ikuto seemed to have busied herself with making tea than really talking to her guests. Kento suddenly appeared, although the ninjas already knew he was there, they also knew that any normal civilian would not have heard him. Guess the floorboards were unbelievably well kept?

'_How interesting…_'Kakashi thought, intrigued.

"Hirata-san, maybe we ask you some questions?" Sakura asked kindly.

"Of course, ask away." Sumi replied casually, however, her hands became busier, and perhaps, even clumsier, as her husband and she answered their questions. Finally, the quad group seemed satisfied and asked to see Usagi's room.

To say Usagi's room was a surprise to Kakashi and them was the understatement of the year. Gone was their image of a kind, smiling, young and innocent child – replacing it was a distant girl that was exposed to the cruel world too young. Usagi's room contained very few things, the necessities were there; table, bed, closet, drawer, etc., however – anything personal seemed to be removed from the room…or, it wasn't placed in the room to begin with. The only thing that remotely indicated that Usagi lived in the room was her laptop and an old yet loved stuffed animal. The walls were not the bright colours Naruto had guessed but painted a navy blue – with different shades such as Prussian blue and Royal blue. Now it wasn't only Sakura who seemed to think this house was sterile, Naruto and Sasuke joined in.

"Thank you very much Hirata-san" Kakashi thanked her, having already gathered enough to make a few conclusions.

"Oh no, it's my pleasure! Just call me Sumi, 'Hirata-san' makes me sound old." Sumi gave them a weary smile, whether it was from Usagi being missing or other things were unknown.

"It's delightful to meet you Sumi-san, but I'm sure this has put a strain on us all – perhaps you could show us our living quarters?" Kakashi asked, appearing to have suppressed a yawn. As Kento overheard Kakashi, he came and wrapped his hand around his wife and gave Kakashi a small glare.

"Kento, stop that!" Sumi smacked him lightly, turning towards Kakashi and them, she apologized, "Oh how oblivious of me, you guys must be dead tired! Let me show you where you sleep and you guys should go get some rest and we'll call you up when we have breakfast." Sumi rambled as she pulled them along to show them where they slept. There were only two rooms free, it wasn't a big house after all, so the four decided to pair up. Kakashi decided to share a room with the only girl since he didn't really want to know what will happen if he stuck one of the boys in there – leaving Sasuke and Naruto to share a room. Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all retired to bed soon after, however, only two fell asleep.

Naruto and Sasuke were both awake and couldn't stop thinking about the weird feeling of impending doom that surrounded the house. They thought back to everything they've observed and came to the same conclusion – obviously, not everything was out in the open, however, that would soon change as they both simultaneously got up to snoop around outside. Naruto, surprised to see Sasuke still up, threw him a questioning glance. One that Sasuke threw back at him. Although they were constantly at each other's throats, it was not uncommon for the two to have similar train of thoughts, no matter what others thought.

With that, they both nodded at each other and silently jumped out of the window.

"Couldn't sleep Sasuke?" Naruto asked quietly, almost enjoying the breeze of the wind as they sailed from rooftop to rooftop.

"Is it just me or does something seems off?" Sasuke hinted the answer.

"It's not just you," Naruto reassured him, "I couldn't sleep, the house was so desolate, that kept nagging at my mind – it doesn't seems like anyone actually live here, not to mention that although Hayashi is Usagi's brother – we never saw him come home. Kento seemed to uninterested about Usagi's well-being and Sumi is drowning herself in her housework to get away. Something's wrong with this family…" Naruto trailed off after that. Sometimes his analyzing was amazing accurate and sharp, Sasuke was not surprised by this. He knew for a while that Naruto wasn't all that stupid – especially after Naruto hinted that Sasuke had him to talk to and that it's not the brightest idea to go to Orochimaru (or anyone else for that matter) to seek power or anything. This was when Sasuke had thought that he didn't hint that he wanted to leave.

"We'll find out soon enough, besides, weren't you the one asking for a hard one?" Sasuke teased lightly.

"Yeah yeah, shut it Sasuke, let's give Usagi's best friend a little visit," Naruto grinned.

"Dope." Sasuke grabbed Naruto just as he was about to jump on the windowsill. Sasuke had heard voices and forced Naruto to hide under the windowsill. Listening intently, the two eyes locked on each other as they heard the conversation.

"Okaa-san (mother), will Usagi be found?"

"Not if she doesn't want to be…"

"Well, I hope they never find her!"

"Now musume (daughter), don't make rash wishes – maybe this knocked some sense into them?"

At this, Naru gave an indignant and unladylike snort, "Yeah right, because suddenly – they'll see her as a daughter instead of some burden? I wish okaa-san," her voice had a bitter undertone.

"We can hope. You know Usagi wouldn't want anything else other than that."

"It's just not fair! If she's happy where she is, I don't mind if she doesn't come back…I just want to see her again," her voice cracked near the end, Naruto and Sasuke didn't see it but Naru jumped into her mother's arms, "I'm so lucky to have you okaa-san."

"And I you, now go to sleep Naru, tomorrow's a new day. There's hope yet."

"Oyasuminasai okaa-san." (Goodnight mother.) With that, the lights in the room flickered off and the click of the door could be heard.

The boys blinked and before one could blink, they were far enough from Naru's house to talk.

"Okay, now I'm confused – if I heard clearly…didn't Naru want Usagi to be found? Just today? When we first meet her?!" Naruto gave Sasuke a stare of utter disbelief and confusion.

"You're telling me…we'll get to the bottom of this, I'll inform Kakashi and Haruno in the morning, let's head back," without waiting for a reply, Sasuke quickly and quietly snuck back into the Hirata house.

* * *

Two gentle knocks and the four ninjas were ready and dressed for breakfast.

"Are you boys planning to head out today?" Sumi asked. Kakashi gave her an agreeing nod as he finished his breakfast.

"We're hoping to look around, maybe we'll find something," Kakashi explained.

Everyone finished their breakfast as Sumi rushed to collect their plates and dishes. Soft footsteps were heard as Hayashi came sleepily downstairs.

"Hey Hayashi…" Naruto greeted the stumbling boy.

"Ohayou gozaimasu otou-san, okaa-san," Hayashi gave them a tense nod and sat down only to eat his breakfast hastily. Before anyone can mention anything, Hayashi finished and rushed out the door, muttering a quick 'going out'.

"We'll go out and check the woods and the pond." Sasuke stated as he rose, impatiently waiting to reveal the new found news to Kakashi

"Ah, right, go ahead, thank you again." Sumi gave them a bright smile, "Be careful." With that, she resumed cleaning. Kento had already gone to work.

With that, the four went to the pond. They found a three pairs of light footprints in different sizes.

"These, I suppose, are the family's footprints." Kakashi commented, "Let's head out into the woods, follow the trail."

To the woods were dense was an understatement. Barely any sunlight shown through the clustered leaves, tree trunks were knocked around as well as many trees were split in half, it was obvious that something big happened here – they just didn't know what. Walking further into the forest, it soon became a dome around then, surrounded by green all around. There were plants of all kinds, the animals that inhabited this forest scurried out of their way.

Once Kakashi deemed it to be safe enough, he turned towards his two boys, "Tell me what you found out."

"Whoa Kakashi-sensei! How did you know that we had information?" Naruto questioned curiously.

"This family is weird," Sasuke started.

"Yeah. Everything seemed so…tense, especially with Hayashi-san," Sakura pitched in her two cents.

"I don't think our target wants to come back," Sasuke gave Kakashi a pointed look.

"Really? Why?" Kakashi casually asked, seemingly uninterested.

"We snuck out yesterday night, only to hear from Naru that, apparently, Usagi's family doesn't treat Usagi like their own…but if they didn't, why in the world would they send out a search mission for her? Ugh!" Naruto pulled at his hair, "There's something missing!"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in agreement, "Seems like she may have actually left on her own will…"

"I see…" Kakashi rubbed his chin is a thinking manner. One might that think Kakashi is rather laid back – but he already had a gut feeling that it was something like this, "In any case, let's look around – if not only for observation."

"Yeah, that would be a good idea," Sakura nodded and headed off.

A while later, after the group moved even deeper into the woods, Naruto found stumbled upon something.

"Hey!!! I found something Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled. Kakashi appeared next to Naruto immediately, along with Sasuke and Sakura. In Naruto's hands was a shuriken. It had a navy blue tint to it and some of the edges seemed like they were dissolved. Kakashi knocked it out of Naruto's hands immediately and gave him a hard thwack on the back of his head.

"Don't touch strange things Naruto," Kakashi scolded him, "do you guys know what this is?"

The whole group just looked at him weirdly, Kakashi – freaking out over a small shuriken? Unheard of.

"Kakashi?"

"If you guys learned your stuff, you'd realize that this shuriken is poisoned! For all was know, Naruto, your hand could have fallen off in a matter of minutes!" Kakashi gave Naruto a pointed glare, he continued, "If you look precisely at the edges, the dissolved ripple shows that it's acidic enough to burn through this in a given duration of time. The colouring's off and that proves even more how strong this acid is. Naruto! Be more CAREFUL."

"Who could it belong to Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"…There are a few groups that do this kind of thing," Kakashi started, "You guys actually already meet one, I have as well."

"Dope, it belongs to _them_." Sasuke spit out in anger and vengeance as he kicked around the shuriken on the ground. Around the tips, if one were to study it intently – like Sasuke began doing, they'd see the slight faint imprint of blood, "...Itachi and them."

"Now, now, we don't know for sure it was Itachi and Kisame. Don't jump to conclusions. She could have staged this fight and ran away." Kakashi corrected him cheerfully, his worry and irritation gone.

"Wait! I don't get it!" Sakura exclaimed.

"What don't you get? I thought you were smarted than dope here." Sasuke snapped coolly.

"WHAT, HEY! Sasuke-teme, you take that BACK. Bakayaro!" Nartuo began his rant.

"Ah-well, I m-mean…never mind." Sakura stuttered with her head down. Seeing that Naruto's outbursts were frequently and usual, none really paid him much attention.

"We'll head back and if this weapon does belong to one of them...then we'll have to be on our toes." Kakashi informed as he picked the shuriken with his dagger. The group turned to head back out of the woods but suddenly Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto all stopped.

"We're being followed." Sasuke nodded his head towards Kakashi.

"Careful." Kakashi added.

"I could've told you that any day!" Naruto bragged.

"Shut up!!" Naruto, once again, received another pounding in the head. It's a wonder if he has brain damage from this.

"Well, well, look what we have here. Just our luck, some annoying, little ninja wannabes."

* * *

Usagi-Yuy: Well, what do you guys think? The direction of this story totally changed course just so you guy all know, the title may change as well – who knows. Thank you for reading and review please! It gives authors wings! Sorry, I had some Red Bull. –cheeky grin– I'm revamping the second chapter as well. Reviews are, once again, greatly appreciated, especially criticism! They help me understand what readers want and I'll try my best! Also, another small note, pairings anyone? Thank you again :)

Take care,

Usagi Uchiha Yuy


End file.
